Motherlover

No Mother's Day is complete without this song:



My mom ran into one of my high school teachers the other day and he told her that she did a good job raising me. That was nice of him to say, and I guess that's the reason why an unusual number of my mentors in recent years (professors, co-workers at Momentum) have requested to meet my parents. I always thought it was strange, like maybe they wanted to see if they were "normal," but now I think maybe they just wanted to...almost thank them, in some way? (They were all parents, too.) It's a tough job. The nature vs. nurture debate is ongoing and I think both play a role, but I also think that nurturing/encouraging good character heavily influences what parts/how much of "nature" takes over, if that makes sense--not to say that negligence (nature over nurture) can't motivate good character, it's just that it doesn't seem as common. Your parents could be saints, but if they don't teach you how they got there, you probably won't become a saint just by association.

Anyway, I guess my parents did do a good job, but I sure didn't make it easy on my mom. We're both stubborn, independent and opinionated, so it was probably some kind of power struggle. Most of it probably centered around the fact that she didn't let me do whatever I wanted all the time (like some other parents did), and "looking out for me" translated to "too controlling." I needed to know her reasons for everything, and deep down I knew she was probably right--just don't tell her I said that. ;) I think I had an appropriate amount of control and guidance, though, and now I thank her for that. I appreciate her much more now that I realize how much she has taught me and done for me.

I think she had a good Mother's Day. I had my mom, dad, and sister over for dinner and I made pasta, garlic bread, and salad. I should do stuff like that more often, but I need people to cook for because cooking for myself is a waste of time. I'll just eat whatever I have time to eat, just so I don't starve. Cooking should be my next hobby, though. It's not that I can't cook, it's that I haven't been motivated to do it. If other people enjoy and appreciate it, that's enough. Cooking has just never been a priority.

After dinner we all played Just Dance 2, the best Wii game ever! My mom was a natural. My dad was hilarious. We caught my neighbor sitting on his porch and watching me from across the street. Eww. My neighbor across the street and the neighbor next door are both watching me a little too closely, I would say. I've been talking about putting in real curtains here for months, but this is another reason to do that now. For some reason, my aunt's house only has sheer curtains, which are pretty pointless. One of the perks of living alone should be walking around at least partially naked, right? Not with transparent curtains and creepy neighbors. They take "looking out for me" to a whole different level. Sometimes, it really is a bad thing.